You are Sam. You have a successful tech/finance/bioscience/retail company going on, but competition is tight over here. The domestic market is a slice of pie that everyone wants to get, but maybe you had your fill and feel like you can fight for a different slice of pie instead. Your heart is starting to itch for a something more. 

Maybe one day you are on the way home from a long tiring day at work, or maybe you simply took a glance at the world map. Suddenly it’s like a light bulb lit up on your head — why not expand overseas? There is always a niche for foreign products. You hold the patent in your hands, and you tremble in excitement at the very thought. 

Well… there is one issue, however. The country you are thinking about is China, and you cannot speak Chinese even if you tried with all your might. You don’t know anyone there, or anything really, other than the fact that your product might sell like hotcakes over there. 

So you start researching. Having to be in there in person to get a corporate bank account registered. The 31242 regulations you have to follow, all mostly in Chinese. What do you mean that laws are carried out differently depending on the region? What do you mean that employees are entitled to different number of days for maternity leave? All labor contracts have to be in Chinese? You have a feeling that by the time you get over the language barrier and set everything up, your time might have been better spent elsewhere instead. 2 years is no joke.

You feel yourself blacking out. This is honestly too difficult, maybe it’s not worth it at all…. And that is where we stop you. 

“Check out our Professional Employment Organization (PEO) services,” we say to you. 

So you click into our website. You read, and you feel hope swell up in you again — what do you mean you can set up a company overseas, over in China, without having to set up a legal entity yourself? 

We smile and present to you our existing infrastructure. Our existing on-site teams are more than prepared to help you hire Chinese employees on your behalf. We can help you payroll and manage your employees too, exchange rates and international bank transfers begone! You still get to directly manage your employee; except they are hired under our name. We are just a medium for your business to expand through, that’s all. 

This is all sounding too good to be true, and the fact that we do this without needing set-up costs and as well as asking for some of the lowest monthly fees in the market sounds like a dream coming true for your wallet. 

So you get into contact with us, and within two days, you essentially have a whole company overseas, ready to go in action. You go to sleep with a smile on your face. 

Be Smart, be like Sam. Check out our PEO services and unlock infinite opportunities today.  

Uncertainties always exist in the workplace, and one of the biggest uncertainties is whether the candidate you just hired will prove to be a quality candidate. This uncertainty is not only a time-consuming affair, but it can be extremely costly as well. According to the CEO of Zappo, Tony Hsieh, the cost of bad hiring cost his organization “well over $100 million”.  

Of course, that is a frightening amount upfront, but more often than not these costs of bad hiring are an accumulation of non-direct costs: loss in productivity, damaged reputation with clients, higher recruitment costs and opportunity costs et cetera.  

So, what does it mean by hiring based on credentials and hiring for ‘potential’?  

Hiring for ‘experience’ 

Hiring based on credentials is simply hiring based off a qualifications ‘checklist’, where candidates must have the necessary skillsets before being considered. This is the traditional hiring strategy where experience supersedes other consideration factors. For companies who have roles that are more technical, it is common to employ this method of hiring to seek for candidates who possess a necessary skillset. Most companies also have the preference that their candidates can “hit the ground running”. Understandably, hiring is an uncertainty, and possessing experience can be an indicator of lesser time spent for the new candidate to reach full productivity.  

Hiring for ‘potential’ 

For hiring based on ‘potential’, we are looking at assessing other qualities beyond their qualifications. This could be looking at attitudes, growth mindsets or culture fit, and hiring them based on their potential to do well in the company, even though they may be lacking in some requirements at the point of hire. In a way, this is a progressive and forward-looking strategy as compared to hiring strictly based on experience. Companies who hire for ‘potential’ believe that if they invest the right support and training to help these candidates grow, they will not only be skilled and resourceful, but loyal and motivated as well. 

In a report by Robert Walters, a significant 94% of candidates hired for ‘potential’ instead of their qualifications, have been retained in their jobs. Despite that, many hiring managers across Asia are still reluctant to shift their gears towards hiring for ‘potential’. Nearly 1 in 10 were not keen to consider hiring for ‘potential’.  

Within the Singapore landscape, we hear about jobs with a long list of requirements demanding years of experience for an entry-level job. As the number of fresh graduates continues to increase year on year, it might be wise for employers to start considering hiring for ‘potential’ to give a fairer chance to this potential talent pool. In essence, identifying a quality candidate will always be a challenge, but having your own process and prioritizing traits you want to see in a candidate can prove to be more beneficial than following the pack. 

If your company is struggling with recruiting the right people, Link Compliance can help. We help connect companies to our talent pool in 4 big sectors – Retail and Luxury, IT and Technology, Medical and Biotechnology, as well as Banking and Finance. To know more about our recruitment services, head to our recruitment solutions page today. 

Articles referenced: 

https://www.hcamag.com/asia/news/general/1-in-2-hiring-managers-in-asia-reluctant-to-evolve-their-strategies/190385

https://www.hcamag.com/ca/specialization/hr-technology/how-to-measure-the-true-cost-of-a-bad-hire/160744

The COVID-19 pandemic, still on-going, is undoubtedly life-changing for many of us. It has affected the way we live, the way we think, the way we move, and more crucially, the way we work. Specifically, it has caused many people to lose their jobs — or for many others, it opened up new windows of opportunities instead. Here are some sectors and forms of work that have survived and are still thriving through the pandemic.

1. E-commerce.

The world outside is dangerous. Stay a little longer and you might get infected with COVID-19 — a true danger when the vaccine isn’t out yet. All that is protecting you are safe-distancing rules and a thin piece of cloth-fabric shielding your orifices. You want to get some new clothes, but the clothing shops are closed because they are deemed as non-essential from where you live. You would like to buy detergent too, but stepping outside is no different from gambling with your life — that’s where online shopping comes in.

In countries like Singapore where a common past-time is going out into the streets to shop, nearly 75% of Singaporean consumers have turned to online shopping due to the pandemic. 31% made their first online purchase — the start of many in the future — during the pandemic. At least 20% will continue the habit of online shopping even after the pandemic. In China, where sales events like 11.11 have generated billions of revenue even pre-pandemic, the effects of the pandemic on online shopping are ever more so obvious in the dramatic increase in sales from the previous year.

Consumer habits have been changed, and the crisis has accelerated conversion to online shopping, and the e-commerce sector is expected to continue to boom, precisely because of the pandemic. Hence more job openings in e-commerce giants, in areas such as logistics, or even HR. 

2. (Food) Delivery Services 

Queuing for good food may have been a passion for many, but with the pandemic, most of us have turned to queuing from home instead. We take our phones out, place an order from a desired eatery, and wait for the food to come to us instead. Platforms like Grabfood (Singapore) and Meituan (China) have reported a spike in sales during the pandemic, and restaurants reported receiving more sales conducted via online orders in return.

Beyond providing work for people in need of a temporary gig for some quick income, the very platform that these sales are conducted from have benefited as a result. The platforms have reported a growth in their Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and operations have expanded as a result. At least, they are not making as big a loss as before.

3. Biotechnology

A jab in the arm means massively reduced chances of dying from COVID-19, if infected by chance. Names like “Moderna” and “Pfizer” have become household names by now. Securing vaccines has become the priority of many governments, but it is private companies who are the ones behind R&D and creation of vaccines instead.

China, for instance, has pushed for more focus on its biotech sector, with 141 biotech companies opening from 2010-2020, and market capitalization increasing. More jobs are created in biotech sectors throughout the world too, as countries seek to also find their own ways to protect their citizens. 

Articles referenced:

Overall, the above are just three that have clearly reaped benefits from the pandemic. Other sectors such as IT may be less affected, or more well adjusted to conditions such as remote working. If you are thinking about your next job opportunity, you can consider these industries, even though you may not necessarily have a relevant degree; some jobs are universal, such as the need for marketing in order to get sales out. Alternatively, if you are a biotech talent and are interested in your next job, or you are looking for the right biotech talent, you can consider our recruitment solutions.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/food-delivery-apps-grabfood-foodpanda-deliveroo-restaurants-1367326

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/one-third-of-singaporeans-made-first-online-purchase-amid-covid-19-measures-poll

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/retail-sales-rise-79-7-may-2021-store-closures-circuit-breaker-1991866

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biotech-is-on-a-hiring-binge-but-lags-on-diversity-11632396600

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/24/china-e-commerce-boosted-by-shift-to-online-shopping-after-coronavirus.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/11/alibaba-singles-day-2019-record-sales-on-biggest-shopping-day.html

According to a labor report released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the number of retrenchments in Singapore in Q2 has risen as compared to Q1. 

Previously in Q1, there were 2270 layoffs. In Q2, there were 2340 layoffs. This is discounting “resignations”. Still, the number of layoffs is still within the range of pre-pandemic levels, as tracked within the quarters in 2018 and 2019. 

However, the changes in retrenchment level are different across various sectors, and alternate forms of stopping work have been employed, resulting in the current situation; that is, a decrease in retrenchment in the F&B sector and the increase in overall retrenchment attributed more to manufacturing and construction instead. 

For instance, more employees in sectors such as F&B, where they face uncertainty and COVID-19 restrictions in terms of dining in rules, are placed on short work-weeks or temporary layoffs instead. This does not strictly fall under retrenchment or unemployment, but employees are still facing issues such as reduced pay and underemployment nonetheless. 

Unemployment rate meanwhile rose for workers above 40, suggesting that older workers are having trouble retaining their jobs, and seeking new ones too. The overall unemployment rate has stopped at 2.7% as of June. 
 

On the other hand, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons has risen above 1 for the first time since 2019 — meaning, Singapore currently has a job surplus. The ratio of 1.63 suggests that for every 100 persons, there are 163 job vacancies available. 

According to MOM, the construction and manufacturing sector has a remarkable increase in the number of job vacancies, in particular for jobs such as production and transport operators, cleaners and laborers. In other industries, there is a high vacancy rate for professionals, managers, executives and technicians. Sectors such as F&B, travel and retail are recovering, but at a much slower rate due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Still, despite the positive news of increased job openings, it has to be said that unemployment is not an easy problem to solve on the individual level; it takes time for an individual to seek new jobs that match their skills and experience, to transition into a new job successfully and all. Not to mention that even while an individual is employed, they may be at risk of being underemployed and underpaid, where their skills and experience are not fully utilized by their job, all while taking a cut from their previous pay in order to successfully find employment. 

Articles referenced: 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/jobs/job-vacancies-in-singapore-hit-record-high-of-92100-in-june-mom

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/jobs/retrenchments-in-spore-rose-slightly-in-q2-with-more-on-short-work-weeks-temporary

The Ministry of Manpower (MoM) Singapore has stated that employers in firms with more than 10 employees are required to notify MoM whenever an employee is retrenched. 

This would come into effect November 1 onwards. 

The policy in place before only required employers to notify MoM if five or more employees are entrenched within a six-month period (a retrenchment exercise) – now an employer is all it takes. 

The employer would be given five days to notify MoM via an online platform from the day in which the notice for retrenchment is given to the employee. Employers are to pay all salaries, including unused annual leave, notice pay, etc., to their employees on their last day of work. 

This is part of COVID-19 support measures pushed out by the government, such that the government and relevant offices would be able to step in to assist the affected employee to provide employment and job search support. 

However, one would have to take note that this is for retrenchment/termination, and not for “forced resignation”. 

As many have pointed out, some employers do resort to unscrupulous means such as making work life miserable for the employee in order to cause the employee to “voluntarily” resign instead of the employer having to terminate the employee. 

In Singapore, while there are no exact requirements in law, employers are generally advised to provide retrenchment benefits for employees, especially for those who served the company for more than two years. The employee may be eligible for two weeks to a month worth of salary per year of service, as per stated in the employment contract. Employees who serve below two years may be entitled to an ex-gratia payment, dependent on the goodwill of the employer. 

Resignations do not incur the same costs, as they are classified differently from retrenchments, hence the push from some employers for employees to “resign” instead. On the other hand, a termination also looks worse on record for the employee, even though it may unfortunately be a more common occurrence within COVID-19 times. 

Overall, it is advised that employers take careful considerations whenever they retrench an employee, or conduct a retrenchment exercise. Notifying the stakeholders early would aid affected employees in searching for employment elsewhere as soon as possible. Retrenching is a difficult topic to manage for both employers and employees, but it is only fair for employers to do their best in reducing the negative effects the employee may face. 

References: 

https://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/retrenchment/responsible-retrenchment